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Whenever idiotic passwords are discussed, the following story always comes up: five years ago, a group of Slovak hackers breached Slovakia's National Security Bureau (abbreviated NBU), which stores tons of classified information. It was an easy hack. The NBU's master login/password was simply nbusr/nbusr123. After cracking it, the hackers publicized the information, much to the NBU's embarrassment.

What's even worse? Days later, the password was still "nbu123."

That was five years ago, but bad passwords still abound. SplashData, a password management app maker, compiled a list of the 25 worst passwords of 2011, based on millions of stolen passwords that were dumped online. Typically after hackers compromise a server, like Sony's or CIA.gov's, they post all these personal details online.

Many of the passwords are sequential numbers like "12345" or "654321," while others contained messages like "letmein" and "trustno1". Even if you thought you were being clever with "qazwsx," (look at your keyboard, you'll get it) it's number 23 on the list. "Monkey," "password," and "qwerty" are ALWAYS on these lists. I know I'm preaching to the choir here but, seriously?

If you, like me, are rather scatterbrained, perhaps it's time to invest in a password management app which generates unique passwords for you and stores them under one password-protected program. LastPass 1.72 Premium is PCMag's Editors' Choice for password managers. It keeps your encrypted password collection online and works across Windows, Mac, and Linux machines. For more, see security analyst Neil Rubenking's selection of Six Great Password Managers.

Sara Yin is a junior analyst in the Software, Internet, and Networking group at PCmag.com, pouring most of her energy into app testing and security matters at Security Watch with Neil Rubenking. She lies awake at night pondering the state of mobile security (half-true).
Prior to joining PCMag.com, Sara spent five years reporting for publications in New York City (Huffington Post), Hong Kong (South China Morning Post), and Singapore (Campaign Asia, Men's Health).
Follow her on Twitter at @SecurityWatch and @sarapyin, or contact her the...
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